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The term “semi freeforming”, not a lot of people accept it. Some people frown down upon it. I think one of the major reasons is that there are people that have organic locs. They started without twisting. They just let their locs kind of lock up on their own, do what they wanted to do, as thick as they wanted to be and joint where they wanted to join. Those are organic locs. So for people to say that they’re semi freeforming, freeforming is organic. It’s completely different from someone that manipulated their hair, twisted their hair, crotcheted, did whatever they needed to do to start their locs.

And a lot of people refer to locs even like mine as “fashion locs” because I manipulated them to start them. So even if I go 6 months without retwisting my hair, and my hair is fuller and thicker, I didn’t start my locs organically so the term semi-freeforming for someone who didn’t freeform to start with doesn’t make sense to some people.

But that’s not what I’m here to talk about. I’m here to talk about the reasons people will go long periods of time without retwisting their locs and end up calling it semi freeforming.

For me, it was a break from the constant tension on my locs. I actually had my locs retwisted just a few days a go and before that I went over 6 months without retwisting my locs. So all this, I still have my hairline, but if I were to twist my hair or have my hair twisted this tightly every 4 to 6 weeks or 8 weeks or whatever, that would put more tension on my hair and I wouldn’t feel that I was maintaining my hairline, that I was letting it get thick and grow. I wouldn’t want the tension on my hair continuously, the pulling and the twisting. It’s just to preserve my locs, the roots, keep them full, and my hairline as well.

Another thing is the fuller look. When I don’t retwist, as you can see in all my other videos, my hair is bigger and fluffier. And when I do retwist, my hair is kind of like calmer and it feels like braids or braid extensions. And I have nothing against braid extensions, I used to wear them a lot as a loose natural, but I miss my locs sometimes after a retwist. So that full fluffy look is something that other people love for themselves as well. So sometimes they’ll go longer between retwists just go keep their hair full.

Especially if they have fine hair or they hate seeing their scalp and their partings, they’ll go without retwisting to just keep their hair nice and full looking and thick looking.

Another reason is loc maintenance. One common misconception is that people who have locs don’t do anything to their hair and it’s inexpensive and it’s low maintenance. And that really isn’t the case. If you retwist your hair on a regular basis and you go to someone else to get it retwisted, the average loctition — not even a high end salon or whatever — the average loctition here in Toronto will charge between $70 and $100 for a retwist. So that means if you’re going to get your hair twisted every 4 to 6 weeks, that’s how much you’re spending. You’re spending as much as someone who is touching their hair up with a relaxer or a colour or any type of high maintenance salon service.

And on top of that, it’s something that’s not high maintenance alone in cost, but actually the work that goes into it. It takes a lot of time to wash locs, shampoo locs, properly. It takes a lot of time to twist locs or interlock or however you maintain them. So it is high maintenance financially and on a physical level. And a lot of people don’t realize that. So sometimes you do want a break from the money that have to invest. And the actual work that goes into maintaining your locs. So that’s another reason people sometimes choose to stretch or semi freeform.

A lot of YouTubers have been posting tips recently to people just starting out in the loc community, people just starting their locs, people that have starter locs, baby locs. And there are 3 pieces of advice that I would love to give as well to people with locs. I think that these are the 3 most important, in my opinion…

The first one would be to be patient. Some people realize that their hair is taking a long time to lock or they get to this phase where they think their hair looks ugly. And when that happens, a lot of them take their locs out, and that’s when you see that people have 3, 4 sets of locs and they keep starting them over. Because they’re just not happy or they’re just not patient enough to see it through. So I would just encourage you to just stick it out and see what happens instead of removing your locs out of frustration.

Also, don’t fall into — I don’t want to say “cheating” – but into a crutch. Interlocking is something that you can do to your roots to make the retwist last longer, to keep your hair from unraveling, but that’s not really good for the health of your hair if you don’t intend on doing that permanently in the long run. It does create little weak spots in your hair. So I wouldn’t recommend it.

I, like many people who have alternated between palm rolling, interlocking, and freeforming, have come to find that the freeformed areas of my locs are soft and spongy, the palmrolled areas are cylindrical and uniform, and the interlocked areas are thinner and hard/compact.

And I wouldn’t recommend wrapping your hair with string or anything kind of crazy to keep it from unraveling. Just stick it out and eventually your hair will begin to lock on its own. It will be better for you in the long run rather than trying to manipulate it too much.

My second tip is to use natural-based products. Stay away from Ecostyler Gel and wax and brown gel. Jamaican Mango and Lime, I know a lot of people like that — but any product that has petroleum in it or wax or anything heavy. Because if you start your locs with that and your hair starts to matte, you’re going to have the product trapped in your locs if you’re not able to remove it. And you don’t want to permanently have residue in your locs.

It’s better to use things that are natural-based that don’t have mineral oil or petroleum, especially things that are aloe vera based just because they can be washed out easily and they’re not going to coat your hair or leave a residue in your hair. So just think about the long-term effects of products. Yes, it might make your hair stay longer, look neater, if it’s a little bit of a stronger product like a heavy gel, but in the long run, you don’t want that stuck in your hair. So stick with the lighter more natural products.

And the last tip I have is not to compare yourself so much to other people. It’s really easy to get discouraged if you compare yourself to how thick someone else’s hair is or how sparse and neat and tidy looking someone else’s hair is, how fast someone else’s hair grows, or how someone else styles their hair because they have this naturally creative side to them where they know what looks right and they can’t experiment a little bit better. Just do what’s right for you.

I personally have been approached a few times and found that people don’t always like my locs. I do get compliments but once in a while someone will point out “I don’t really want my locs to be uneven or whatever. I prefer rope-like perfect locs” and I’m not offended by that. What works for someone might not work for someone else.

(Chescalocs, one of the people who inspired me to lock my hair. Yet my locs aren’t as uniform and rope-like as hers, and I have too much hair to rock some of the styles she easily does)

For me personally, I explained this in one video, I grew to love my locs. Especially when I thickened them and combined them, as I have a very small frame, very small face, very small personality, and I just think that this is a nice contrast for me and I learned to love it. So embrace how your hair turns out. Everyone’s locs look different and everyone’s locs are beautiful!

The tip I want to stress the most is to be patient and to hang in there. You have a HUGE community on YouTube and on Facebook and on Instagram to share your journey with and ask for encouragement and advice, and that’s a great great thing to take advantage of.

I’ve had people who are just starting their locs ask me how often they should be washing their hair, and I’ve had people who have had their locs a while ask me how often they should be washing their hair.

With the starter loc people, it’s more like they want guidance. The people who have locs already, they kind of just want your 2 cents and they’re going to keep doing what they’re doing regardless. So I always think that’s kind of funny.

But for me, I always just say wash your hair as much as you want to. I’m the type of person that, when I wash my hair, I have to do it a certain way. If I wash other people’s hair and they have natural hair, like curly or kinky hair or locs, I will not rub their hair in a circle and get their roots all tangly and whatnot. But if I’m washing it like that at home on myself, it feels good so I wouldn’t want to wash my hair any other way.

(OGX – My favourite line of drugstore shampoo, sulfate-free with a slight lather)

So I’m just going to start off by saying that the more you wash your hair when you have starter locs, the faster your hair’s going to lock. And that’s because your hairs inside of your locs are being meshed together and forming.

You’re keeping your hair clean as well. So it’s also a good way to make sure that build-up or lint or dirt isn’t going to get trapped in your locs when they actually form. It’s very good to wash your hair often when you’re starting your locs.

The only downside to washing your hair often when you have a full set of locs is if you have high density locs or your locs are thick, and you know from personal experience that it’s going to take your hair more than 24 hours to dry completely, then you’re pretty much opening yourself up to getting mould trapped in your locs or — you know that laundry, slightly damp smell — and nobody wants that for their hair!

So if you know that you’re only going to airdry your locs and you want to wash your hair often and leave it wet, that’s not a good idea. You might want to cut down on that. Use a cotton t-shirt, microfiber towel, hooded dryer, or blowdryer on a low setting to remove some of the extra moisture from your hair. My loctition never lets me leave until my hair is completely dry but I’ve come to find that many locheads hate being under the hooded dryer for a long time.

But my overall opinion is: the most you can wash your hair, the best. It’s just a way of keeping your hair clean and it’s also a way of making your hair lock faster.

Personally, I wash my hair about once or twice a week right now. It’s summer and I work out quite often. But if I do have a retwist and I want to keep my hair looking neat, I will sometimes stretch between washes just to keep my hair looking neat longer.

If it’s winter time and I know that my skin is getting dryer and my hair is getting dryer, that I’m just more prone to dryness in general, I won’t bother washing my hair as often because I’m not going to be producing as much oil on my scalp, my hair’s not going to get dirty as fast. And if I do wash my hair and airdry my hair, it’s not going to dry as easily in the cold.

Just wash your hair as often as you’re able to but be aware that if you are airdrying, you don’t want to walk around with hair that’s not completely dry too often.

Fitness mogul Kamila McDonald is married to legendary reggae artist Jah Cure, and they currently share one child together.

She was raised in a traditional Rastafarian household in her homeland of Jamaica. She was brought up on natural foods and a natural way of living.

However, she gained 60 pounds after graduating from high school and marks it as one of her lowest points. Her own weight loss transformation is a testimony to how life changing improving your diet and exercise habits can be. Her radiance and energy shows through.

In a 2015 interview with “Jamaica Observer”, Kamila is quoted as saying…

“Locks have become beautiful now. Some of those same teachers who used to give me a fight at school are now sitting next to me at the loctician doing their hair. It’s interesting for me to see that because while my parents would have just seen the fight [against Rastafarians], I have seen the fight and now the acceptance.”

Her mission is to empower women to accept and LOVE themselves the way they are.

Some people are naturally pessimistic and are happy being so. They view themselves as pragmatic and as having a better sense of reality. They are the self-proclaimed realists of the world. And then there are those of us who feel weighed down by negativity and wish that we could be more optimistic. This is completely possible. It all lies in the way we perceive things…

1. Stress management When we conceal our anxieties, they only build. Each concern can snowball into a feeling of being overwhelmed. Each person has their own way of letting off steam. This varies from exercise, to listening to music, to reading a good book, and so on. More of us are beginning to realize how important proper stress management is to both our physical and mental health. Find what works for you and incorporate it into everyday life. Feeling stress-free is the first step towards a positive attitude.

2. Constant reality checks It is sometimes necessary to debate the validity of your concerns to determine whether they are rational or irrational. This is called self-rationalization and one of the most recognized methods is the worst case scenario. This is when you consider the worst possible situation, then go on to consider whether it is likely to happen. For example, a loved one said they would call once they arrived by subway to a certain destination. They should have reached that destination 15 minutes ago. You may dream up scenarios of there being a train accident or some other frightful incident having taken place. But after a little thought, you find that it’s more probable that they either have yet to reach their destination or are simply too busy to call at that moment. You never want to leap to conclusions and cause yourself unnecessary grief.

3. Support of friends and family Friends and family are usually more than willing to provide you with a much-needed reality check, encouragement, or a sympathetic ear. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have close friends and family members to confide in though. It is detrimental to find some type of support when you are feeling extremely confused or overwhelmed. This support may have to come from a healthcare practitioner, counsellor, or a member of a support group. Sometimes all it takes is another person’s point of view to put things into perspective.

4. Own your feelings Accept that you have complete control over your perceptions and internal responses. You may not have control over what happened on your commute to work that upset you. But you are able to decide whether you brush it off and move on with your day or become frustrated, claiming you are always being dealt a bad hand.

5. Surround yourself with positive people You are who you associate with. Avoid people who are always complaining, insulting others behind their backs, insulting others to their faces, or generally trying to bring you down. Misery loves company. Positive people serve as inspiration, support, and role models.

Remember, people who wonder whether the glass is half empty or half full miss the point. The glass is refillable.

Rapper Lil Kim has been under media fire lately for bleaching her skin and surgically altering her facial features to the point she’s uncrecognizable. It’still agreed that she’s reasonably talented, and many agree that she was cute with her dark skin and natural features but now looks quite odd.

It got me thinking about African (Kwaito) singer Mshoza has no qualms about bleaching her skin in order to look white.

(Mshoza, before and after)

She proclaims that attaining white skin is a personal choice that will make her happy. In interviews, she speaks at length about the transformation she is embarking on and makes reference to the late Michael Jackson.

Almost every culture (Asian, South Asian, African, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, etc.) has a preference for fair/light skin.

Like breast augmentation, butt implants, nose jobs, etc, I hope that this procedure does not become mainstream.This once beautiful singer is teaching the young black girls who look up to her to HATE the colour of their own skin.

Are you looking to eat better, feel better, look better… but you just don’t know where to begin? There are solutions other than going vegan/vegetarian. You can start by…

1. Cutting down on the sugar.

vs.

Excess sugar causes anxiety and mood swings. It makes the body more acidic, aggravating chronic illnesses and even acne. I was shocked to find that one large chocolate milkshake at Burger King (22 oz) contains 1110 calories and just over 100 grams of sugar! *brief pause to gather composure* What human being would knowingly consume this? I myself used to be a sugarholic. A nice specialty drink or Cinnabon roll would always give me a quick emotional AND physical pick-me-up. The more I became reliant on sugar for this, the more I began to feel rundown. I eventually had to cut back.

I recommend baby steps… Start by swearing off soda and energy drinks (if you consume them at all). When it comes to beverages, they are the worst of the worst. Not only do they contain massive amounts of sugar (usually 36 grams or more a can) but they’re filled with chemicals. When adding sugar to your tea or coffee (brown or white), try adding less. For example, go from adding 3 teaspoons on the regular to adding 2 — or better yet — 1. Take your time and go as gradually as you’d like. It’s about acquiring a taste for it. It’s okay to go slow. Once you’ve cut out sodas and cut back on added sugar, you may want to consider sipping on water or herbal tea throughout the day (no sugar added) as opposed to commercial juice. This will keep you hydrated as well as cleanse your system, helping you feel calm/balanced. It will also help you manage your weight as well as keep your skin clear. You’ll look and feel great!

2. Getting more fiber.

You don’t have to consume ONLY brown rice, brown pasta, brown bread, etc, but having it on hand and consuming in regularly will provide you with the extra fiber needed to cleanse your system. Grains are often full of nutrients (B12, iron, manganese, etc.) that the “white” food items lack. Just think of it this way, if it’s brown, is likely less processed; therefore the nutrients haven’t been stripped. You want to stay away from highly processed food as much as possible. Try having whole wheat toast, oatmeal, cream of wheat, whole wheat crackers, brown rice, etc. as much as possible (ideally, at least once a day/every other day). Have a wheat intolerance, many veggies and legumes are high in fibre a well. An added bonus? The extra fiber these foods contain help you to feel full longer, thus lose weight.

3. Taking a multivitamin daily.

There are so many vitamins necessary for optimal health that you just may not get enough of on a daily basis (eg. B12, vitamin D, iron, magnesium, folic acid, etc.) Taking a multivitamin formulated for your age/gender/lifestyle helps guard against deficiencies, helping you feel at your best. I currently take a vitamin formulated for active women, but I was previously taking prenatal vitamins for my low iron. Check with your doctor to determine what’s best for you.

4. Keeping that body in motion.

Exercise does not have to be hard, sweaty work. Make sure you get at least half an hour of physical activity, preferably outdoors, every single day. This is easiest done by taking a quick walk around the block. Early morning, on your lunch break, when you’re about to run errands – it doesn’t matter. Being physically active does not mean you have to be confined to a gym running on a treadmill or lifting heavy weights. Yoga, boxing/kickboxing, basketball, dance, playing like a kid in the park, a romantic walk with your sweetie – there are a lot of fun ways to keep active.

5. Virtually unplugging.

People often overlook how easy it is to become overstimulated and stressed by the constant electronic devices/stimulants we deal with every day. Make it a point to refrain from checking your phone/email constantly, forgo an hour of TV time for some informal meditation or some interesting reading material. Make sure you don’t allow yourself to become overwhelmed by electronic devices/social media and you will definitely be able to think clearer and find more time for yourself.

I hope these tips are easy enough for most to follow. Getting healthier doesn’t involve some drastic detox, diet, or fitness regimen. It’s all about making positive changes to your lifestyle at a comfortable pace. That being said, go as slowly as you need to and don’t be too strict with yourself.